Gen 5- Chapter 13 Part 1: Pineapple

“So I need you two to help your auntie today. Its really important that you are both on your best behavior. This is going to be hard enough with out grandma and pappa being here, we don’t need to add you to the mix. OK?”

“Ok Mom.”
“Sure.”

“Good. Now lets get going.”

It was quite a busy week at the Chiffon’s house. Symphony had offered to watch Eclipse while Sunny and Punchy left town for a business trip. So that brought the count to four, FOUR toddlers. All of which now knew how to walk, that meant, you had to keep a constant eye, because they were getting into anything and everything. I think poor Symph was completely tuckered out by the time it was all over.

In all honesty, I was dreading this trip from the moment we had started planning for it. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to organize a trip when four toddlers are involved. Its not pretty and unless you have the patience of a saint, you can easily get to a point that is easily beyond frustration.

Honey did her best to get the kids help out, and for the most part they did. For the circumstances, I think it all went fairly smooth…for the first 10 minutes or so, then all bets were off. The moment we got in the car, the arguing started. You know…the usual.

“Stop looking at me.”

“I’m not.”

“Are too!”

“Nu uh!”

“Dad!!”

By the time we reached Butterscotch’s and Lime’s home, everyone was already exhausted. This was not a good thing, because we still had a few more houses to visit and if everyone was already tired at 10 am…what was gonna happen by evening time. I shuddered to think. I could see crying babies everywhere. I was just about run for my life in the other direction, when Lime’s endearing voice brought me back to reality.

“Welcome everyone! Come on in!”

It was really nice seeing both of them again, the last time we had seen them, was at their wedding and that had been close to six months already. Lime was looking lovely and I noticed that she was dawning some much more casual clothing.

“So we have good news!”

“Oh? What is it?”

I kinda had an idea, but I wasn’t about to ruin this moment for her.

“Butters and I are having a baby!!”

Honey sat forward in her chair, the look of excitement written all over her face. “Really!” She squeaked.

“Yup! I am about 12 weeks along now!”

“Oh this is so exciting! Pineapple isn’t this exciting!”

“Yes! Extremely!”

Butterscotch looked a little more scared than excited. I knew Lime was ready, but I don’t know if he was there just yet. A feeling I was all to familiar with, even if it was very brief, there was a moment of realization and worry. Am I ready for this? This huge step! I knew he would be a great dad though. If I could handle five, I knew he could handle one.

While the grown ups were having our “boring talk” time, Olivine and Shamrock were in the pool. Enjoying the nice crisp water. I should rephrase that though.Olivine was enjoying the water, while poor Shamrock was on the verge of tears.

“Shammy? Whats the matter with you?”

“Nothing!”

“You look like you are gonna cry.”

“No I’m not. Just leave me alone OK?”

We didn’t know it at the time, but our poor dear boy was and still is deathly afraid of water. I think that was the very last time he ever stepped foot into a pool of any kind.

Poor Symphony had volunteered for toddler duty, a choice she much later regretted. She tried several times to gather them all for story time, but there was always one who could have cared less and kept wandering off. Remember what I said about patience of saint? Well she must have been blessed with them.

The next stop on our list was Aunt Rosie and Uncle Forrest’s house.  Aunt Rosie had been unable to get away from her work for some time, so she had yet to meet the triplets. I was not as good talking with family as Honey was, a trait she had no clue she had till her first pregnancy. So I let her do most of the talking.

Interestingly we learned that Olive had been coming around quite often to visit with Forrest. To both Honey and my shock, we learned that Olive was actually Uncle Forrest’s mother. This slightly through me off guard, as I started to calculating it all in my head.

“Wait…does that mean that Honey and I are…”

“Haha no dearies! You two are perfectly fine.”

Whew that was a relief.

Symphony was relieved of her toddler duties for this stop, and instead got to enjoy some game time with her two cousins.

After learning about Olive and Forrest, Alpine’s hair color made a lot more sense. We had always assumed it was just a recessive gene. We never put two and two together where it actually came from.

Sage the older of the two had grown up to look so much like Aunt Rosie it was uncanny. I think the only thing he really inherited from Uncle Forrest was his hair color. Honey said it too looked a lot like a Bitter’s color. This day was just getting weirder and weirder.

Up next was Auntie Persimmon’s house, we happened to be in luck, because Aunt Pumpkin and Uncle Apple happened to be there too! Two birds with one stone! Yes this was a welcomed idea indeed!

Again though, I was at a loss for words. I did a lot of smiling and nodding and feeling oh so awkward. Thankfully, little Emerald was getting a little cranky, so I jumped at the chance to get take her out for some fresh air. I had never been so grateful for a fussy child in my life.

Luckily they never even noticed I was gone, they never even skipped a beat and kept on with their discussion about children and what age is right and what age is not. They were very adamant that the younger you are the better. Both wishing they had started sooner. Heck their children were closer to our Olivine and Shamrock, than Symphony or any of my siblings for that matter.

I think the Uncles were more in my boat. They would casually glance at one another and smile, but no real contributions to the conversation. It did make me feel a tad better!

When I stepped onto the porch, I found Symphony and Rock having a conversation about Rebel. It seemed that Rock was actually an acquaintance of his, and Symph was pumping him for any information she could get. That girl was crazy for that boy.

Zine had offered to take the kids fishing, and Olivine jumped at the chance. She may have been shy, but for some reason, all that shyness disappeared when she was around family. They were giggling and shouting back forth to each other. I found this funny, because there was no way they would ever catch anything being that loud. Hah! But they looked to be having a most excellent time.

Shamrock on the other hand wanted to go, but his fear of water was almost progressively getting worse the more tired he got. By the late afternoon, there was no way he was going to go near that bank.

As the sun started to tuck behind the hill, we made our way to our last stop. Sunny and Punchy’s house to return little Eclipse back home. I’m sure all three were just dying to be reunited once again.